Door latch



woman April 9, 1929. E. e. PQWELL DOOR LATCH Filed July 11, 1923 Patented Apr. 9, 1929.

" unite STATES first earner orries.

ELLIS Gr. rowELL, or MICHIGAN cIrY, InnIAnn, assrenoa 'ro SHEET STEEL Enor- UCTS COMPANY, OF MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA, A CORPORATION or INDIANA.

DOOR LATCH.

Application filed July 11,

This invention relates to latches for doors and more particularly for doors for ye. hicles and similar devices. It is an unprovement on United States Letters Patent No. 1,362,217 issued to Kenneth S. Baxter on December 14, 1920, and the objects of the present invention are the simplifying of the construction disclosed in said patent and the provision of a latch that is cheap to manufacture, easily assembled, simple in con-- struction, eflicient in operation and one that is not likely to become broken or get out of order. 1

Another object of the invention is the arrangement of the spindle at the forward edge of the latch whereby the latch may be employed on doors with sliding windows.

Other and further object-s and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of the door, the jamb being show-nin-section;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the bolt member in extended position; i

Fig. 3 is a similar view with the bolt mem ber withdrawn or retracted;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4- 1 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrow; and

Fig. .5 is a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 8, looking in the direction of the arrow.

For convenience of description, toward the left of Figs. 1, 2, 8 and .5 will be referred to as forwardly or toward the front of the vehicle.

Referring now to the drawings, the reference character 10 designates a door of an automobile or other vehicle and 11 the door jamb which is secured to the side wall 12 of the body of said vehicle. The door may be'of anymaterial and constructed in any desirable manner. As shown it is of sheet metal and comprises the inner and outer walls '13 and 14, respectively, the outer wall being] extended forwardly beyond the door proper to form the flange 1 1 as is usual in such constructions.

The reference character 15 designates the latch supporting member which, as dis closed, is in the form of a casing. The casing is provided with suitable means as the flange 16, for securing it to the inner wall 18 of the door as clearly disclosed in Fig. 4t of the drawing. A bolt member 17, having 1923. Serial No. 650,860.

the outer face of .its nose beveled as at 18 is slidably or reciprocally mounted on the casing 15 and normally projects forwardly through an opening 15" in the front edge or. wall'of the casing. Suitable means are provided for guiding the bolt member in its reciprocating movement. Preferably the wall of the casing is provided with one or more strengthening corrugations 19 and the bolt member- 17 is provided with one or more projections 20 for engaging in one ofthe grooves formed by said corrugations 19.

The bolt is normally resiliently held in extended-or projected position byappropriate mechanism. In the embodiment selected to illustrate the invention the casing 15 is provided with a stud 21, see Figs. 2 and 3, on which is mounted the coil spring 22, one end 23 of which engages the rear wall of the casing and the other end 24: of which is extended to engage a transverse recess'25 provided in the outer face of said bolt'member. The parts are so arranged that when the bolt member is retracted it will place the spring 22 under tensionwhichwill tend to project the said member forwardly. The spring 22 is a fairly stiff one in order that the same will project the bolt member forwardly with sufficient force to cause the face 18 when it engages the jamb 11 to cam the door tightly closed, as will presently appear.

Means are provided for retracting or withdrawing the bolt member 17. Any convenient means maybe employed for this purpose. As shown, the door is provided with the usual rotatable spindle 26 having the inner and outer handles 27 and 28 for operating the same. The spindle 26 extends through the latch support or casing 15 and possible to the free edge of the door in I order not to interfere with the lowering of the sash and for this reason means are provided for operating the bolt member which will permit the spindle 26 to be located in proximity to what forrconvenience will be termed the forward edge of the door or latch casing. In order to accomplish this and at the same time provide for easy manipulation of the bolt member, the upper end of the operating member 29 is angularly arranged to form a cam surface 31 for engaging the fulcrum edge or vertex 32 formed by the inclined walls-of said recess. In other words, by inclining the outer end of the member 29 its bearing surface is more nearly normal to the direction of movement of the bolt member 17 and the vertex 32 forming only a line contact with the member 29 all cooperate to render the bolt member 17 easily retracted by the handles 27 and 28.

A suitable trip member is provided for automatically engaging the bolt member when it is ret acted and for automatically releasing the same when the door closed. This trip member 33 is loosely mounted in the casing 17 as by means of the shouldered pin or other securing member 34 which has its reduced portion secured in an opening in the casing and has its outer headed end engaging a somewhat enlarged opening in the rear end of the trip member 33, whereby the said member may have a slight lateral movement on said pin. The trip member 33 em tends forwardly through an opening in the front wall of the casing 17 and is provided with an outwardly offset portion 35, fora purpose that will presently appear. The lowor edge of the trip member is provided Witha notch 36 which is adapted to engage an upwardly extending ing 37 on the bolt member 17 for holding said bolt in its retracted position. The lug 37 does not extend the full thickness of the bolt member 17,.thus leaving a space between the same and the door within which the trip memher is adapted to engage when the bolt member is projected.

The rear end of the trip member 33isoifset inwardly to permit the movement. of the lug 37 between the trip member 33 and the inner wall of the door whenthe lug is released from the notch 37. A flat spring 39 mounted on the screw 34 tends to force the trip member inwardly so that when the bolt member 17 is retracted by rotating the handles a sufficient distance to bring the lug 37, which is normally between the trip member and the inner wall v13 of the door, in alignment with the notch 36, the spring 39 will force the trip member 33 inwardly and cause the notch 36 to engage the lug 37 to hold the bolt member in retracted position. 1

On closing the door the offset portion 35 of the trip member 33 will come in contact with the outer wall of the door jamb and will move the trip member outwardly, thus releasing the lug from the notch 36 and the spring 22 will shoot the bolt member17 forwardly. 1n 1ts forward movement by a downwardly extendmglug 37 which comes in contact -with the front wall of the casing 15, and

by the projections 20 coming in contact with the forward end wall of the groove 19. The lug 37 is a duplicate of the lug 37. The long bevel face 18'of the bolt member will The bolt member 17 .is limited v engage the inner wall of the door jamb 11 r considerable distance beyond the front edge" of the door, and the bevel surface18 of the same is considerably extended in order that the latch may be effective as a fastening means on doors irrespective of how they fit their doorways. I

Attention is directed to the fact that the bolt member 17 is provided with duplicate lugs 37 and 3S symmetrically arranged on said member. It will also be observed that the inclination of the walls of the recess 30 is also symmetrical and that the recess 25 extends entirely across the bolt member. By means of this arrangement the bolt member is adapted to be used on a door at the opposite side of the car simply by inverting the same. 7 because it eliminates the necessity of manufacturing these members, in rights and lefts. v

It willalso be noted that he corrugations and the shape of the casing is such that the This is a very desirable feature same can in like manner be used on either side of the car, it being only necessary to properly punch the holes for the spindle and for the bolt and trip members and mount the studs 21 and 34 in proper position. This is also a desirable feature in that a single press may be' employed for stamping the casings when they are made from sheet metal. I p

It is thought from the foregoing taken in connection with the accompanying drawings that the construction and operation ofmy devicewill be apparent to those skilled in the art, and that various changes insize,

shape, proportionand details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit and'scope of the appended claims. I claim as my invention: 1. In combination, a latch casing adapted to be secured to a door, a bolt member sli'd-' ably mounted within said casing and provided with a beveled surface that is adapted to engage the inner face of a door jamb, means contiguous to the free edge .of the door for retracting said bolt, means for projecting the same, and a trip member for engaging said bolt member to hold the same in retracted position, means for pivotally mounting said trip member whereby the same may move in a horizontal plane, said trip member being provided with an extension which is adapted to engage the outer faceof said jamb for releasing said bolt member when the door is closed.

2. In combination, a casing adapted to be secured to a door, said casing provided with a strengthening corrugation forming a guideway, a bolt member, means on said bolt member for engaging said guideway, means for retracting said member and means for automatically retaining said member in retracted position until said door is closed.

3. In combination, a casing, a strengthening corrugation on said casing, a stud secured to said casing, a bolt member slidably mounted on said casing and with a projection for engaging the groove formed by said corrugation, a coil spring mounted on said stud and having one end engaging an end wall of said casing and its other end engaging in a recess formed in said bolt member for projecting the same forwardly, means for retracting said bolt and a trip member for engaging said bolt member to hold the same in retracted position and for automatically releasing the same when the door is closed.

4. In combination, a door member, a casing secured to said door member, a springpressed bolt member slidably mounted in said casing, means including a rotating stem extending through said casing adjacent to the free edge of said door member for retracting said bolt member, a lug on said bolt member, a trip member on said casing for engaging between said lug and said casing and provided with a notch in one edge thereof, and a spring member for normally forcing said trip member toward said casing to cause said notch to engage said lug when said bolt is in retracted position.

5. In combination, a latch casing, a spring-pressed bolt slidably mounted in said casing, said bolt being provided with a recess, a spindle rotatably mounted in said casing in proximity to the forward edge thereof, an angular bolt retracting member rigidly secured to said spindle and having .its lower portion extending upwardly and rear-wardly from said spindle and having its upper portion extending in a general upward direction at an angle to said lower por tion, the apex of said angle being directed rearwardly, the free end of said member extending into said recess for retracting said bolt, the rear end wall of said recess being V-shaped to form a line contact bearing for said member.

6. In combination, a latch casing, a spring-presed bolt slidably mounted in said casing, said bolt being provided with a re cess, a spindle rotatably mounted in said casing in proximity to the forward edge thereof, an angular bolt retracting member rigidly secured to said spindle and having its lower portion extending upwardly and rearwardly from said spindle and having its upper portion extending in a general upward direction'at an angle to said lower portion with the apex of said angle directed rearwardly, the free end of said member extending into said recess for retracting said bolt, and a member within said casing for holding said bolt in retracted position, the forward end of said member extending forwardly through said casing and offset laterally for forming a trip for releasing said bolt from said member when said offset portion is moved laterally.

ELLIS POWELL. 

